


Dog Watching

by folerdetdufoler



Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Dogs, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 23:49:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20016805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/folerdetdufoler/pseuds/folerdetdufoler
Summary: so i was subtweetingsomethingthat i can't remember over a year ago but it turned into an idea of even with dogs with some excellent prompting from jc. nothing in the original tweets made it into the fic but i finally made the time to write a short AU where even is a dog-walker and isak is a university student and that's how/when they meet. jonas, as always, is a very good friend.





	Dog Watching

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tebtosca](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tebtosca/gifts).



> thank you, jc, for the inspiration and your patience!

It wouldn’t have happened if Jonas wasn’t late. But he was. So Isak was sitting in the window of the cafeteria waiting for him, with nothing left to entertain him except the people passing by on the street. They were mostly young people, students like him, but some nannies walked by with their charges and older people on their lunch breaks, running errands or simply enjoying the sunshine. It was a nice day.

Which annoyed Isak even more, that he was waiting for Jonas and that he had to do it sitting inside. He checked his phone for an update from Jonas that didn’t exist, then sighed and looked out the window again. That’s when it happened: a giant black dog rumbled past with the speed and cadence of an elephant. Isak opened the camera on his phone and snapped a quick picture, trying not to be obvious. But shit, that dog was huge.

The next thing he noticed was the guy walking the dog, because he heard a faint laugh through the glass. Isak realized that he was staring, and his mouth was hanging open. He made brief eye contact with the guy and snapped his jaw shut. He felt the blood rush to his face, but it was a brief flush; the guy and the dog kept walking, releasing Isak from being caught agog.

“Hey.”

“Ahh!” Isak jumped in his seat when Jonas appeared at his side.

“Whoa, it’s just me.”

“Shit, yeah, I know. I was just focusing on something else.” Over Jonas’s shoulder Isak could see the guy fading in the distance, him and the large dog mixing in with everyone else on the sidewalk. Isak flicked his eyes away from the window to greet his friend properly. “Sorry, hi.”

“Hey. Have you started yet?”

Jonas was there to help Isak with his economics class, which he was struggling with. Jonas had taken it last year and kept talking about how easy and informative it was. Unfortunately it was not the same for Isak. He was hoping Jonas would be a good friend and share the projects he’d done so Isak could copy them, but Jonas was being a better friend and tutoring him through the class. They met a couple times a week, since almost the beginning of the semester, at a good time for both of them between classes and when the cafeteria wasn't too busy.

“I have not, I was waiting for you.”

“That’s so sweet.” Jonas reached for his hand and clasped it in his own, obviously mocking Isak’s intentions. Isak tugged his hand back.

“Keep it in your pants,” he grumbled.

Jonas laughed and pulled his laptop out of his backpack. “Alright, let’s get started.”

* * *

The following week Jonas was not late, but Isak was early. He went to the cafeteria to get lunch, and snagged another seat in the window. He ate alone, comfortably, and didn’t even resort to scrolling through every possible app on his phone in an attempt to look busy. He slowly worked through a sandwich, yogurt, and chocolate milk while people-watching.

And dog-watching.

He thought about that dog every time he’d opened his camera roll, at least once a day over the past week. When he was walking to class he kept his eyes peeled for it. It had to live nearby, right? He was surprised he hadn’t seen it before, but then again a dog that size wasn’t going to casually cross the city for a stroll every day. Maybe it had been a fluke, a one-off. Simply visiting the city this one time before retreating to its private cabin on a lake. Isak pulled up the photo again. Yeah, that dog belonged near a forest, taking up an entire couch in front of the fire at the end of the day.

The guy walking it had been wearing a baseball cap. In the photo it was pulled low over his eyes, and his face was focused on the dog, angled down. But Isak remembered what he’d looked like during that brief moment of eye contact.

He also looked skinny. Skinny enough to be pulled over the moment that dog found something interesting to chase without warning. He seemed relaxed though, like it wasn’t taking any effort at all to walk the elephant. And maybe it didn’t. Isak didn’t know. He wasn’t very familiar with dogs, aside from the few tiny ones he’s met at barbecues and parties. But nothing at a party had ever caught his eye quite like this dog and the guy who’d been strolling behind it. The guy who had seen him, and laughed.

As much as he wanted to see the dog again, he also wanted to see the guy. He wanted to explain that the dog he was walking looked straight out of a fever dream, or Sesame Street. Isak’s shock and awe had been totally deserved, and he shouldn’t have been embarrassed by it. He wanted the guy to walk past so he could shout through the glass, “Your dog looks ridiculous!”

So he watched the sidewalk and waited for his chance, hoping it would come before Jonas arrived.

It didn’t. But halfway through their session, while Jonas was reading a new paragraph that Isak had just written, Isak looked out the window and saw a skinny man in a baseball cap in the distance. He only saw him from behind, for a couple of seconds before he turned a corner, so Isak wasn’t sure if there was a dog with him, or if it was the same guy. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, projecting a desire that remained. He looked at his phone and noted the time. Was that when the guy had walked past him last week? He took a subtle screenshot of the clock just as Jonas finished.

“Okay, well that’s much better than what you had before. I think you could use a source for this line though. Like, we understand this is true, but I don’t think it’s a general _truth_ , you know?”

Isak had to take a moment to refocus his brain on what Jonas was talking about, to drag it away from the dog and the window and the guy.

* * *

The next week he was a whole day early. He only had a morning class on Wednesdays so he didn’t even have to be on campus but he hung around until lunch and then went to the cafeteria to snag a window seat. It was busier this time but he was still successful. He bought a sandwich and milk and sat there for an hour, his eyes flicking between the sidewalk and the clock on his phone.

Just as he was about to throw back the last sip of milk, he saw him: baseball cap, long legs, slow walk. But Isak had almost missed it, because the guy was walking a different dog. Instead of a large black elephant it was a regular sized…yellow thing. Isak’s mouth fell open again, which meant the milk that his hand thought he was trying to still drink ended up dribbling down his chin. And that is, of course, the very moment the guy decided to look toward the window and acknowledge Isak.

He smiled. If there was a laugh, it was too quiet to reach through the window. Isak slammed down the carton and swiped his hand across his face. But he didn’t look away, no matter how embarrassed he was. He watched the guy as he walked, again with an easy pace just behind the dog, all the way to the corner, where he turned around the building.

Only once he was gone did Isak mutter, “Shit shit shit,” and clean up his mess properly. He went to get napkins to wipe down his arm and the countertop. He thought about running outside, chasing the guy down, but he knew it wouldn’t be possible to do that without further embarrassing himself. He would need a better plan.

He checked his phone and confirmed the time: it was the same. The dog, the day, was different, but the time was the same. Most of his schedule allowed for a lunch break in the cafeteria, except on the weekends, so he would continue doing that just to confirm the guy’s pattern and see what kind of dog would be next. 

Isak stayed at the counter for another twenty minutes, googling dog breeds and trying to find out what they were actually called.

* * *

On Thursday he set a timer. He had to do it in order to not miss the guy during his session with Jonas, but that also meant he had to explain what the timer was for when they had to stop their discussion.

“Do you have to be somewhere?”

“No, I…I’m just waiting for someone.”

“Aww come on man, did you schedule a date during our meeting?” Jonas looked at his own watch as if he was terribly inconvenienced by the whole deal.

“No. I….” Isak didn’t know how to explain that he was waiting for a dog to walk past the window. So he just said that: “I’m waiting for a dog to walk by.”

Jonas was more confused than when Isak told him he’d signed up for Economics. “You’re waiting for a dog?”

Isak sighed. Of all the people he could tell, Jonas would be the most understanding, but he would have to explain it better. “A couple of weeks ago I noticed this really big dog walk by.” He remembered the photo just then, and tried to find it on his phone without looking away from the window for too long. “It looked so funny that I’ve been waiting to see if it would pass by again. I’ve seen the guy walking it since then, but he had a different dog. So now it’s like this _thing_ where I’m trying to figure out why there are different dogs and when the funny one will come back. I set my alarm because he seems to walk by—“ Isak saw the hat. “Right now.”

Jonas followed Isak’s gaze, which was locked onto the guy walking slowly past the window. He had a brown poodle this time, or at least something poodle adjacent. It had very curly hair and a very pink tongue falling out of its mouth. Jonas waved.

“What the fuck!” Isak tried to slap Jonas’s hand down.

The guy noticed and waved back.

“Shit!”

“What? Was I not supposed to try to say hello to the guy you were waiting for?”

“He doesn’t _know_ I’m waiting for him. But gah! No! I’m not waiting for him!” Isak wanted to crawl under the counter, but under the counter there was just more glass. His embarrassment would still be seen.

Isak looked back out to the street to make sure the guy was gone. The heat receded from his cheeks.

“I didn’t know you were into dogs.” Jonas observed with the same mild curiosity as when he stumbled upon Isak making out with a dude at a party for the first time. Isak responded with the same forced nonchalance.

“Yeah, well, I am. Or at least I’m into this particular one.”

“And that wasn’t it? The brown one?”

“No.” Isak found the photo again for comparison. While Jonas pretended to study it, Isak noticed that the guy was wearing the same pants today as he had that first week. Maybe that was some sort of uniform, the black jeans and black cap.

“Okay, so…what are we trying to accomplish here? Are we just going to keep watching for the dog each week? And try to stay under the radar?”

When Jonas stated his mission back to him, it sounded silly. Isak clapped his hands over his face and groaned into his palms.

“I mean, it’s fine if it is. I just think it might be more helpful if we rework our schedule. Like, what if you can do your lunch and dog research like usual, and then I just show up at a more appropriate time? Then you won’t be trying to do two things at once. I’m free to stay longer if we start later.”

Isak’s hands slid down his face. He looked at Jonas just to make sure he wasn’t mocking him, but he had the same problem-solving expression that he used whenever he was reading Isak’s essays. He was taking it as seriously as Isak was. He was Jonas.

“Okay. Thank you.”

Jonas nodded at Isak’s phone. “What was the time you had set?”

“12:30.”

“Okay, so we’ll just do…12:45? Just in case he’s late?”

Isak nodded. He gave him another soft, “Thanks.”

Jonas clapped him on the shoulder and gave him a little shake. “This is kind of exciting. A different dog each week!”

“Each _day_. Yesterday was a Labrador Retriever.”

“Oh shit.”

Isak opened up a bit more, feeling safe with Jonas’s sincerity. “I’ve only seen three dogs in the four times I think I’ve seen the guy. The first one, this one, is a Leonberger. Then there was the yellow lab, and I’ll need to search what today’s was.”

“I know we just agreed on 12:45 but I might show up early to watch too.”

“Okay, but you have to promise not to wave. We are undercover.”

“Why?”

“Because.” Isak didn’t really have an explanation for his own embarrassment. “It’s creepy, I guess.”

“It can’t be as bad as those dudes back there.” Jonas thumbed over his shoulder to the guys a couple of stools down, who were also looking out the window but loudly rating the attractiveness of the girls who walked past. “This practically feels like scientific research in comparison.”

Isak laughed, and jumped on Jonas’s description. Yes, this was research. How many dogs did this guy actually have? Did he walk a different one each day? Was there a specific pattern to which dogs got walked on which days? Isak was ready to commit to this study for weeks, possibly the whole semester. He would eat countless dry cafeteria sandwiches in pursuit of the answer, and hopefully he’d work toward the ultimate question.

When would Isak get up the nerve to say hello?

* * *

On Friday it was an all-white dog with a gleaming coat that was so light it fluttered in the spring breeze. On Monday it was a German Shepherd, which Isak could identify on sight. On Tuesday Jonas arrived early, and they both watched the guy walk past with a corgi. Jonas let out an unexpected, “Aww.”

“Hmm, smaller than usual.” Isak opened up the list of dogs he kept in his notes app and added the corgi.

“And the guy nodded at you too.”

“Eh?”

“If we’re recording our observations, the dog was smaller than his usual companions and he gave you a nod, like a silent hello.” Jonas demonstrated the move even though Isak understood completely, even though it’s how most guys usually greeted each other. He was just ignoring it, because it was taking a lot of concentration to not blush whenever the guy did it. And he’d been doing it every day since Jonas’s wave. “Didn’t you see?”

“Um, maybe? I’m just focusing on the dogs, really.”

“Okay, well, you can do that but also be polite. They’re _his_ dogs, so it wouldn’t hurt to pay attention to him too. And it would probably make this whole thing feel less creepy if this was like…consensual.”

Isak scrunched up his face as if Jonas had just farted.

“Not like _that_. I mean, if he knows what you’re doing and you know that he knows, then it’s like, he is giving you permission to do it and you are accepting that. So you’re not creeping, you’re observing, and you’re not pretending you’re behind a one-way mirror.”

Jonas made sense. Isak just wanted to distract him from thinking any part of this was sexual, even though Isak wouldn’t mind that. Sure, he’d been watching the dogs, but he’d also been thinking about the guy, and those pants, and the way his eyes cut over to him from under the brim of his hat. It was slightly thrilling because it felt illicit, like the guy wasn’t supposed to be acknowledging Isak, and Isak wasn’t supposed to be waiting for him every day, but they both were doing just that. It was a secret meeting, a brief connection, shrouded in mystery for everyone involved. And when there was so little information actually known beyond the dog breeds, the (non-dog) fantasies could run wild.

“Fine, I’ll be less creepy.”

“Thank you. Now are we ready for production possibilities or do we need to spend some time looking at corgis on Instagram?”

Isak scoffed at Jonas’s very accurate guess at Isak’s research tactics and flipped his phone over in defiance.

Jonas launched into a mini-lecture of his own, flaunting his established knowledge of the concept, while Isak tried to calculate how many corgi steps it took to match one skinny-guy-with-a-baseball-cap step.

* * *

On Friday Isak was disappointed by the grade he received on his paper and the sandwich he bought, which seemed to be leftover from Thursday. He practically threw his backpack onto the counter and scraped the stool away from the window with unnecessary force. But at least he was on time. He ate his shitty sandwich and watched the clock tick down to the moment when his whole day would turn around, when he would catch a look from the guy and try his best to send something in the neighborhood of chill back to him.

He’d been working up to it, really. While he sat in class, not paying attention, he practiced facial expressions in the reflection of his laptop screen, options that would pass as “interested” or even “flirty,” just anything _but_ the desperation he felt inside. He even thought of cute one-liners, like “I blame your dogs for the 5-minus I got last week,” which would lead to apologetic offers for coffee to make up for it, maybe even a study session of their own.

But then he would get upset, faced with the reality that he didn’t know a single detail about the guy, except his plethora of canines. He looked like he could be a student, but what student had that many dogs and walked them every day during lunch? Maybe he was a little older than Isak, with a cool job and an interesting lunch break. He wished he could see more from under the baseball cap too, though that would require changing his viewing station, actually going outside. He still had to get to the whole eye-contact level first. He still hid behind the clear glass.

And then: the elephant! Isak’s spine straightened and he opened up his camera. He tried to get a clear shot, and that’s when he realized the elephant was surrounded by other dogs, dogs he recognized. His face exploded in unbridled excitement, most definitely an expression he had _not_ been practicing. He heard the guy’s laugh again, and finally tore his eyes away from the herd of dogs.

The guy had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, both of his arms tensing with multiple leashes to hold the dogs in place. He nodded at the dogs, then looked down at Isak’s phone, and Isak finally understood. He snapped a picture. He snapped five pictures. Then, unable to contain them any longer, the guy lunged forward. Isak heard a muffled yelp as he struggled to regain his footing and still control the dogs. Isak watched him go. He had a small sweat stain in the middle of his back, probably from the warm day and the extra strength a walk with all of the dogs required. But the rest of the view was the same: blond curls at the nape of his neck, black jeans, and then a turn around the corner of the building.

Isak was so excited to show Jonas the pictures when he arrived, joining Isak in response to his distress call about his grade. He’d spent ten minutes zooming in on each dog, on the guy’s face, and then selected the best one to display. “There are _ten_ dogs!” he almost shouted when he saw Jonas approach.

“Ten? How do you know?”

“He walked all of them today!”

Jonas jogged to his stool and hopped on. They hunched over Isak’s phone and studied the photo instead of Isak’s paper.

* * *

In his excitement on Friday, he agreed to go to a party with Jonas that night. Well, party was not the right word. It was mostly his skateboarding friends, and they started drinking at one of their apartments before hitting the streets with their boards and bottles. Without an actual party to attend, they would end up at a park, doing foolish tricks in the dark on the basketball court and throwing their broken bodies across the benches to drink. Isak counted three wrist casts in the whole group.

As the days were getting longer there was still some light, and still some regular park-goers at the periphery of their party. When Isak wasn’t watching the boys show off, he let his eye wander to the families taking evening strolls and the dogs making their last rounds before bed. Thanks to the alcohol he wasn’t paying precise attention, so he was shocked when Jonas backhanded his chest. “What?” he burped, slightly annoyed.

“Elephant.”

Shit, Jonas was drunk. He slapped Isak again, so Isak slapped back.

“Look, that dog is here.” Finally he pointed, and Isak’s head whipped around.

Yes. Yes? Hat, jeans. Yes.

Jonas shoved his shoulder. “Go say hi.”

“Why?”

“Because…you’ve had a boner for him for like a month now?”

“No!”

“Oh excuse me, a boner for the _dogs_.”

“Shut the fuck up.” He shoved Jonas back.

This made Jonas kick his legs out to stabilize himself, which sent the collection of bottles and cans at their feet rolling. The noise made the dog stop and the guy look up from across the basketball court.

“Shit.”

He waved.

“Shit shit shit.”

Jonas waved back.

Isak, no longer protected by glass or the illusion that he was doing something else besides waiting for the guy to acknowledge him, dropped his head into his chest. Since he couldn’t see what was happening, Jonas narrated for him.

“He’s walking. He’s…yes, he’s coming over. Jesus that dog is fucking huge.”

Jonas’s friends stopped skating, stopped trying to flip their boards, to watch the guy and his elephant approach. Isak realized that he was going to have an audience. He hissed something unintelligible at Jonas and jumped to his feet to intercept the guy.

Isak stormed past the guy, close enough to distract the dog and get it to follow him. He didn’t know where he was going, but he got far enough away from the court so none of his friends could see the pink in his cheeks or hear the shake in his voice that was sure to expose him as soon as he opened his mouth.

“Whoa whoa, heel. Heel!” A deep voice rang out that stopped Isak in his tracks. The command was not meant for him but he obeyed it anyway. He turned.

The elephant was close, straining on its leash to sniff at Isak. The guy held her just out of reach, his whole body leaning backward in a counterweight. “Sorry, she thought you were running and wanted to chase.”

Isak swallowed, then let his voice shake. “It’s okay. May I pet her?”

“Hold on, she has to sit first. Skadi, sit.” The dog’s hindquarters immediately dropped. Isak reached out a hand and she nudged her head to meet it.

“She’s so big.”

“Almost sixty kilos, which is the high end for a female.”

Isak kept his eyes on the dog, not because he was worried about her as an animal, but because it was the only way he would get his blush to recede. The moment he looked at the guy he knew it would flare back up again.

“Do…do you really have ten dogs?”

The deep voice that made his commands undeniable made his laugh irresistible. Isak looked up. Shit.

“No, technically they’re not mine. I just walk them.”

“Oh! You’re a—“

“Dog walker.”

“That’s cool. And it makes, um, a lot more sense.”

Oh that laugh again. “That would be…I think that would be impossible, to have all of those dogs in one house. Or it would at least be a full-time job.”

“But you walk them every day?”

The guy shrugged. “Well, I guess it is a full-time job now. And you’re a student?”

“Yes!” Isak kept petting the dog, but was able to maintain eye contact in the dim light. While the guy made his heart race, he also seemed to put him at ease, so the blush kept itself at bay as well. “Are you…?”

“If I feel like it. I’m not in any program, but I’m obviously on campus a lot.”

“Yes, doing your best to interrupt my study sessions.” Isak shocked himself, teasing a practical stranger with a very big dog. Perhaps the alcohol was catching up, catching on to what he’s wanted to do all along: flirt.

The guy smirked. “You like it though. You’re there every day now! Taking pictures!”

“Because you’re _posing_ oh my god! But also, you’re walking a dog that is as tall as—“ Isak gestured to his crotch, and then everyone, including the dog, was looking at it. Isak hid his hands behind his back but the damage was done.

“Well then please accept my apologies for being so…distracting. And we should go. I need to get Skadi back to her owner.” He sounded wistful, not regretting being a distraction, but regretting that he had to get back to his job. Isak gave the dog one last pet and stepped aside, assuming the guy was going to return to the path along the perimeter of the park.

“Okay, well, good night.”

Skadi started walking, so the guy followed. “It was nice finally meeting you…”

“Isak.” He wanted to hold out his hand for a shake, but the guy was already out of range.

“Isak. Nice to meet you.” The guy pressed his free hand to his chest while he deftly walked backward for a moment. “Even.”

“Bye, Even.”

“See you Monday!” Even turned away.

With that, officially, Isak was drunk.

* * *

Their friends thought he was a drug dealer. They spent the rest of the evening impressed with the dog walker front. Even Jonas started to join in toward the end. “I mean, it’s probably a legit business, walking the dogs, but it’s also a great excuse to walk all over the city and stop to talk to people in random places. You have a built in bodyguard if things get out of hand. You see him on campus, which…duh. He has to carry those little bags for shit, but what it’s also for, y’know, _the shit_.”

“You’ve had too much to drink. Let’s go home.” Isak dragged him off of the bench. They collected armfuls of bottles and found the nearest bin, depositing them with a sharp thunder. Jonas was drunk, but not too drunk to lose his balance on his board. He hopped on and coasted down the sidewalk, a hand on Isak’s shoulder to help keep him moving.

“He has to walk ten dogs. I don’t think that leaves him much time to deal drugs. Besides, dogs are narcs.”

Jonas snorted. “You have to train them to be narcs.”

They talked about dogs the whole way back to Jonas’s dorm, where Isak sent him inside with a hug.

On Monday he was back at his usual spot in the window, but he was in an outfit carefully selected for the casual sighting, and he’d forgone his usual sandwich to avoid creating any stains. He didn’t bother watching the clock now, trusting Even’s usual schedule and the fact that Even seemed just as determined to see Isak as he was to see him. So he watched the other people walking past, casually wondering what their jobs were, part- or full-time, and if any of _them_ were drug dealers.

The sight of two dogs snapped him out of his dreaming, and he smiled as they walked right up to the window. It was the German Shepherd and the white one, which Isak still wasn’t sure exactly what it was. But it didn’t matter, because the voice rumbled through the window. “Come outside.” Isak hopped off the stool and obeyed.

“You’re not really studying, are you?” Even asked when he met him at the door to the cafeteria.

“No, I only really study on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Otherwise I’m just eating lunch.”

“Great, then you can help me.” Even offered the leash connected to the white dog.

“You want me to…?”

“He’s super gentle. They both are. I figured I could combine their walks and we could….” Even shrugged.

Isak agreed quickly, not needing Even to define whatever he thought they could do. “Sure, sure.” The dog walking _was_ a good front, for the chance to talk to Even some more. He took the leash.

“So usually I head all the way to the park, and if they haven’t pooped by the time we get there I’ll do a little loop inside, and then I’ll head back, but like, two blocks parallel to this leg, so they have new places to sniff. These two live nearby each other so their drop-offs are easy. And we won’t end up too far from school.”

“Yeah, sure, that’s fine. I don’t have class until tonight.”

“Great.” Even started walking and the dogs immediately skipped to their usual positions about a meter in front of him. This put Isak right at Even’s side, which was perfect.

“So um, what kind of dog is this? I tried looking it up but 'fluffy' and 'white' weren’t specific enough.”

Isak watched Even smile. “He’s a Samoyed, which is a great breed, but I would only recommend them if you have two hours a day to dedicate to brushing one.”

“Do you do that?”

“I could, but not usually. I’ve done some dog-sitting gigs though, full-service care instead of just walking. Anything for a little extra cash.”

“My friends thought you were a drug dealer, that the dogs are just a cover for a more, uh, lucrative hustle.”

Even chuckled. “Not me, but I definitely know some guys who actually do that. And it seems to work well for them.”

“I mean yeah, Jonas figured out that it’s a really subtle fit, with the locations and the bags and stuff.”

“Is Jonas the guy who waves?”

“Yeah, yeah. He’s tutoring me in Economics when we meet in the cafeteria.”

The dogs led them across a street without any direction from Even. They barely had to think about their charges, focusing on each other instead.

“And skateboarding with you on Friday nights?”

“Oh, I don’t really skateboard. I’m just…moral support. It’s more Jonas’s thing, and I’ve just been tagging along, since we were kids. And if I do a night of skateboarding, then he’ll tag along to a concert or whatever.”

The conversation flowed smoothly, from concerts and favorite music, back to dogs, to Isak’s studies, to the random classes that Even had signed up for over the past few years. They paused when the dogs pooped and Even scooped it up, and Isak didn’t even notice the smell because he was distracted by the way Even’s t-shirt exposed his back when he bent over. It was quite a pleasant walk, and over much too soon. The dogs had looped them back to campus, following an established path home, but Even stopped them before they got too far from the cafeteria.

“I should probably stop you here.” Even took the leash back from Isak’s hand.

“Oh.” Isak looked around to orient himself. He’d been blindly following the dogs this whole time.

“Thanks for your help. This was a lot more fun than my usual walk, and more efficient.”

“Glad to be of service.” Not sure what to do with his now empty hand, he gave Even a salute, which he instantly regretted. But Even laughed.

“Would you…um.” The laughter faded into slight nervousness as Even bit his lip.

Isak jumped on it, thinking he knew what Even might say next. “Who are you walking tomorrow?”

“A corgi. But I could add this really sweet Spaniel mix, if you’re free, if you want to do this again.”

“Yeah! Of course. That’d be…that’d be really nice.”

“Great. Same time, same place?” 

A smile was growing on Even’s face. The one on Isak’s matched it. He just nodded vigorously, excited to see more of Even even though he was still standing right in front of him.

“Okay, well. I have to go. But I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Isak was still nodding when Even turned away. Once he was out of sight, Isak pulled out his phone and cancelled his Tuesday session with Jonas.

* * *

Even picked Isak up at lunch every day that week with two dogs. Except Thursday. He walked Skadi on Thursday and just waved at Isak and Jonas in the window, not interrupting them. But every other day they each walked a dog together to the park and back, getting to know each other a bit more and enjoying the spring days. The weather was beautiful, letting them stay outdoors, but Even also told Isak what would happen if it were raining, or if it got too hot, or just about any kind of natural obstacle that would pop up. He had a strategy for each dog, ways for them to get exercise and entertainment even in the worst situations. Even was dedicated to his goals.

“Because it’s the walking, yes, but also the interaction that they need. It’s actually been really great that you could help me bring out a second dog, so they get some socializing in as well.”

“Oh, so this is just for the dogs’ sake, right?” Isak gestured between them. “You’re just recruiting me as an employee?”

“No, of course not! If I did that then I would have to _pay_ you.”

Isak laughed and shoved Even’s upper arm, the way he would shove Jonas’s. But he noticed the flexing muscle beneath the t-shirt when he did, the way he wouldn’t with Jonas. Or didn’t, anymore.

As they walked to the park—this time with the Labrador Retriever and the Labradoodle—Isak noticed how often their arms brushed up against each other. They held their leashes in the opposite hands, so the ones that were brushing were free to…do more. But Isak was too shy. Like he’d been satisfied with sitting behind a window, now he was satisfied just feeling the light hair on Even’s warm arm every few steps. They passed a low-grade current between each other the whole way.

“So, do you walk all of them at night again too? Like going to the basketball court?” Isak wondered what Even’s Friday night plans were, but he remained safely in the realm of the dogs.

“No, Skadi is the only one I walk more than this route. She has a very old owner who lives by himself, and I go over every day to walk her in the morning, then the afternoon, then the evening after he’s fed her.”

“Oh wow, that is…a lot.”

“It’s fine. I get paid still, and she lives near me so it’s more like I’m just checking up on my neighbor every day, rather than a whole job thing.”

“But, you really do spend your whole day with dogs then. It _is_ a full-time job.”

Even shrugged, but then conceded. “Yeah.”

Isak didn’t know why he was pressing Even so much about being a dog walker. Perhaps some of those fears had taken hold, that it was just a front for a shadier business, and he was trying to get solid proof that it wasn’t. Or maybe he just didn’t believe that someone with so much care for pets and the elderly truly existed. Even was nice, and funny, and flirty, and curious, and maybe it was all just a little too good to be true.

“That’s how it started, with Skadi. I was walking her, and then I found other owners who needed help, and before I knew it I had filled my day with a regular schedule and a roster of clients. I think I’ve hit my limit though, for myself. I couldn’t fit more than I have in a day, and it’s decent money.”

“Yeah?”

“Definitely. People love their dogs and they truly want to care for them, but they have jobs too. So they’re willing to pay for someone else to love them just as much as they do.”

See? Too good. Too loving. It felt endless, how much attention he gave these dogs on their walks every single day, like it would never run out. It almost made Isak…suspicious. Or was it jealousy? Walking side-by-side, Isak basked in the overflow, but he wondered if he could gather the nerve to ask for more.

“So…what do you do besides walking them? Like, after you’re done with Skadi for the night?”

Even smirked and Isak’s palms immediately started sweating. Even understood exactly what Isak was asking about. Isak adjusted his grip on the leash.

“I go home and google better walking shoes.”

Isak looked down—rather he was already looking down, avoiding Even’s smirk, but he looked at Even’s shoes. They were just regular sneakers.

“These are fine but I think I’ve had them for too long. All of the walking has worn them out, and I feel like there has to be a better pair out there.”

“Maybe. I’m not well-versed in shoes but I like those.”

“Thank you.”

They reached the park and took the now-familiar path. Isak was grateful for the shade of the trees, noticing that the dogs were panting pretty heavily from the heat. But also to cool himself down. He felt himself blushing again, just thinking about what he was about to ask. “Okay, but after you google shoes, then what?”

“Isak….” Even would’ve stopped, but the dogs wouldn’t let him. He slowed down though, and Isak did too. “What are you doing tonight?”

“Um, nothing. Or. Whatever you might be doing?”

Even smiled. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. “What’s your phone number?”

Isak gave it to him almost too fast for him to type. He repeated it.

“Okay. I’m going to text you my address. Meet me there at 9 o’clock and we’ll go walk Skadi together. Then we’ll go get something to eat.”

It was the most casual plan, barely a variation on what either of them did that late at night. But it still felt like Isak’s world had been turned upside down. When Even’s address arrived in his own back pocket with a vibration, he felt it shake him all the way down to his toes. “G-great,” he stammered.

“Great.” Even flashed him another wide smile, which kept him shaking for the rest of the walk.

* * *

Isak texted Jonas as soon as he got home. Jonas didn’t know that Isak walked with Even every day, but he felt like he owed him an update on the latest development. It felt significant, worth sharing. In the very least, he was letting him know where he would be that night, in case the dog walker turned out to actually be a serial killer. He sent Jonas Even’s address. _I’m meeting Even tonight to walk a dog._

_Find out his prices. I’m willing to pay 200kr per gram._

_Fuck off._

_Don’t wear black in case his place is covered in fur. Text me when you’re home._

This immediately sent Isak to his closet to find something that wouldn’t expose a roll in the hay.

_Or if you’re not going home._

Isak did not dignify Jonas’s comment with a response. But he appreciated Jonas’s concern for his safety and his optimism for the evening’s activities. In addition to choosing jean shorts and a white t-shirt over something darker, he made sure he had a fresh condom in his wallet.

He let his hope run wild as he walked to Even’s apartment. He was nervous, of course, but he didn’t try to tamp his emotions down like he usually did when approaching men. It had only been a week of talking to Even, but he felt like he knew him well enough to not be afraid of him. He was nervous because he’d never felt this much potential before, this much possibility that hadn’t been preemptively cut off by his own reservations.

Even lived near the park. It was quite pleasant, walking through that neighborhood at twilight. Isak texted him when he was outside his door, instead of figuring out the buzzer. But he went up to the panel while he waited. Even’s first name was handwritten, with a doodle of a puppy’s face next to it. “Cute.” It matched everything else Isak thought about him.

When Even stepped through the door, Isak was shocked to see he wasn’t wearing his usual walking uniform. He was in basketball shorts instead of his black pants, and the hat was gone. His hair was combed back and practically glowed gold against the darkness of the evening. Isak had to swallow a lump in his throat before he could even say hello.

“Hey. Skadi is just a couple of doors down. I’m going to get her on my own, okay? Don’t want to worry the old man with a stranger.”

“Sure.”

Isak waited on the sidewalk again, but used the time to take deep breaths and slow his heart down. He wasn’t going to make it to dinner if it didn’t stop racing, and he still had actual exercise to get through.

Even reappeared moments later with Skadi, and she did her required sit at Isak’s feet in order to get a pet from him, unprompted. He happily complied.

“Do you want to walk her?” Even offered the leash. “She’s very good on a lead. I promise she won’t pull your arm out of its socket, even though she looks like she will.”

“Okay.”

“And I swear I’m not just using you for free labor. But I don’t exactly mind the break.” Once Isak took the leash, Even stretched his arms and flexed his hands to emphasize his new freedom.

Isak chuckled. “I don’t mind. Sometimes I forget that I’m even walking a dog when I’m with you.”

Even tilted his head as he considered what Isak said. “Yeah, me too.”

“I mean, they’re so well-behaved.” Isak explained, even though that wasn’t what he meant. But it was okay, because Even laughed it off like an excuse too.

“Okay, but you still have to hold onto the leash.”

Isak shook it to reassure Even of his grip, which made Skadi turn around to look at him. “Sorry.”

She dismissed him and continued walking them to the park.

* * *

They settled into their usual conversation, sharing more and more about their lives. Isak didn’t think there was much anything interesting about university, or his friends, since the most exciting thing to happen lately was a result of him sitting alone in the cafeteria, but Even listened to him as if he were on the verge of winning the Nobel Prize in…anything. Just because Even was listening made the most mundane detail into a captivating story.

But when Even talked, Isak was legitimately rapt. He learned what kind of student Even was: one who only existed on a whim. He signed up for whatever he was interested in the moment, though he hadn’t taken any classes lately, since his days were booked up with dogs. “Have you met the Sheltie?”

Isak shook his head.

“Oh, well he’s a good chunk of my afternoons, because he, surprisingly, needs long walks, and then a full brushing after each. But he’s also only on my schedule until the summer. Then I’ll have enough time to sign up for a class. Or maybe not! Maybe I’ll try something else. Maybe I’ll join a rock climbing gym.”

“You’ll definitely need new shoes for that.”

Skadi stopped when they reached the park entrance, distracted by noise over by the basketball court. Even spoke before Isak had a chance to see what it was. “Oh, your friends are here.”

“Ah, shit.” When he looked over, Jonas was, of course, waving.

“Do you want to go over and say hi?”

“What part of ‘Ah, shit’ made you think that?” Isak didn’t mean to let his annoyance show, but Even laughed at it anyway.

“Come on, I don’t want to be rude.”

“You’re not being rude. _They're_ being rude.”

“How?”

Isak covered his face with his free hand. “They’re only here because they knew I, you, we would be here. They…they’re trying to bust up our—.” He caught himself before he said it.

But that didn’t matter. “You can say it. That’s what it is. I know walking a dog isn’t like, the sexiest thing, but I was trying to ease us toward a proper date.”

“Right, okay, yeah,” Isak huffed. “Well, they showed up to make fun of the fact that we’re walking a dog on our first date.”

To emphasize his point, laughter floated over from the group at the benches. Isak dropped his eyes.

“Ah. Got it. Well then we’ll just keep walking, not give them the satisfaction.”

“Thanks,” Isak mumbled. He steered Skadi away from the court. Even stayed by his side.

“Can I put my arm around your shoulder? You know, just to give them something to talk about?”

Isak gave him a small smile, glancing over at him. “Sure.” He welcomed the weight and warmth of Even’s arm, and the convenience of the excuse. They kept walking, slightly closer together now. Long after they were out of sight of Jonas and his friends, Even’s arm remained in place.

* * *

After Even dropped off Skadi they went to get sushi. Even said it was a tiny place with only two tables, and warned Isak that if they were full they would have to go eat at his apartment instead. “Is that okay?”

“That’s…smooth.”

“Eh?” He looked legitimately confused.

“The restaurant is too small, oh no, we’ll have to go back to my place.” Isak mocked Even’s thinly-veiled invitation.

“Oh! Well. It’s…it’s actually really small. I think it’s mostly intended for take-out and delivery, but they have two tables that people sit at while they’re waiting for their orders. We could probably eat outside somewhere if you’re more comfortable with that.”

Isak’s tease had backfired. Now he had to invite himself to Even’s place. “No, I’d…I’d love to see your apartment.”

Even smiled, which put Isak at ease. “It _is_ quite smooth, but I really only meant it for dinner.”

They walked a couple of blocks away, to a hole-in-the-wall joint with neon chopsticks flashing in the window. It was as Even had described: tiny. The tables were empty but it wasn’t the most inviting place to dine, especially once Isak realized how noisy and active it was. He sat at a table to wait after they’d ordered, and Even caught up with one of the chefs while he rolled their dinner.

Jonas had texted him a creeper shot of them walking away from him at the basketball court. It was weird to see himself, but nice to see himself pulled in close to Even. He remembered how Even's arm felt on his shoulders and craved it again, craved more. He entertained a tiny fantasy, in the late-night bustle of the sushi shop, where this was their first official photo as a couple. He was grateful Jonas had taken it, but had to disguise that in his reply text. _Thanks for ruining my evening! Will never tell you my plans ever again._

Jonas quickly replied with several crying emojis and a flurry of excuses mixed with excessive flattery to renter Isak’s good graces. _Sorry. We thought it would be funny. You looked cute together. I told them all that Even is really handsome and Markus agreed. If you want I can talk to him next Thursday and invite him to hang out with us. We could all be friends at least. I’m sorry Isak I didn’t mean to fuck up your date. Do you want me to come over? We can drink some more._

_No. I’m going back to his apartment for dinner._

_Bitch! I ruined NOTHING. “For dinner” my ass._  
_Wear a condom. I’ll text you tomorrow._

Isak had a shit-eating grin on his face when Even approached with their bag of food. “Something happen?”

“Just some retaliation with Jonas.” Isak stood up and tucked his phone away. They walked outside.

“How long have you known him?”

“Since we were in grade school.”

“Ah.” Even smiled. “You definitely have that friend vibe.”

“And what vibe is that?”

“Where you spend most of your time pissing each other off but it’s actually because you’re really close and love each other?” Even’s tone implied this was a very common form of friendship, and quite obvious based on the few one-sided stories he’d gotten from Isak.

“Oh. Yeah. I guess that’s it.”

It was nice that he didn’t have to explain much to Even, and he realized that this was a staple of their conversations: Even simply understood what Isak meant, interpreting what he left unsaid correctly, which let their conversations move swiftly without sacrificing depth. He knew Isak wasn’t actually mad at Jonas, and deep down appreciated the support his friend showed for the effort he was putting into a new relationship. The level of awareness made him uncomfortable though, since he had little to hide from this man he’d just met a week ago. He tried to move past it.

“Can I help carry anything?”

“No, it’s fine. We didn’t order much.” Even was clearly managing the one bag just fine.

“Sorry, I just…don’t know what to do with my hands now that we don’t have leashes to hold.”

“Oh shit! Yeah! I hate when I’m just like, walking to the store and I have to remember what to do with my hands. Takes me a minute to get comfortable with them just…hanging next to my body.”

Isak snorted, relieved that his flash of anxiety was not his alone. He held his hands out in front of him as if he were considering the need for hands at all if there were no dogs to walk.

Even leaned into his shoulder. “I know what we could do with them, though.” He took Isak’s right hand in his left, gripping his palm in a warm yet tentative embrace.

Isak had to recover from the shock of the move before he could return Even’s light squeeze and let their hands fall comfortably between them. Then it was his turn to lean into Even’s shoulder. “Okay that was actually really smooth.”

* * *

“Now I have to warn you that I spent most of my free time this afternoon cleaning.” Even paused right before he opened the door to his apartment.

“Uh…okay? But why would you warn me about a clean apartment?”

“Because this is not what it usually looks like?”

Isak was puzzled by Even’s announcement, so much so that when he followed Even inside he was focusing more on what he said than the actual apartment he’d been warned about. They kicked off their shoes in the entrance, and Isak didn’t look up until Even paused to present the place to him.

Technically it was a studio apartment, but it was big. To their left was the kitchen along one wall. A small table and two chairs were pushed up against the back of a couch, dividing the kitchen from the living area. The couch faced a wall that didn’t quite reach the ceiling. It had a TV hanging from it on one side and potted plants across the top closing the gap, their leaves and vines hanging down as decoration. The far wall was mostly windows, though his view was simply the apartments in the building across the street. On the other side of the wall was the bedroom. Isak could see the corner of the bed, a rack of clothing, and the only other door, which he assumed was to the bathroom.

It looked clean and tidy, though not devoid of warmth and life. What personality Even had shared with him over the past week was evident here, so Isak immediately felt like he was in Even’s home, not a stranger’s apartment. He felt comfortable here. So comfortable, in fact, that he helped himself to Even’s bedroom. Even went to the left, to the kitchen with the sushi. Isak went to the right to see what else was there.

Hidden from his original viewpoint by the wall, he discovered a chest of drawers and an overflowing hamper of dirty clothes. The bed was made. The headboard had Christmas lights along its edges, which must’ve served as the only lighting in that part of the room. He looked up to the ceiling to confirm this, checking for overhead lights. This just made him think about the view from the bed though, which he tried to banish for its presumption. He wasn’t allowed to have that view yet, even though he wanted it.

Then he noticed the other side of the wall, which was taken up entirely by a classroom-sized chalkboard and completely covered in writing. Isak ran away then, skipping back into the living room, feeling like he’d actually just violated Even’s privacy. But Even was at the counter, his back to Isak, so he didn’t witness the act of shame.

“It’s very nice.”

“Thank you,” Even called out over his shoulder.

“I’m now trying to picture it messy.”

“Oh, don’t do that.” Even turned around with a plate of sushi in each hand and a pout on his face.

“You’re the one who told me it was usually a lot worse than this.” 

Even sighed. Isak walked over to the table, where Even was setting up their meal. He figured out which seat was his based on the rolls he’d ordered.

“I’m not used to inviting people over so I guess I need to work on that a bit.”

Isak was focusing on cracking his chopsticks and pouring the sauces that Even had brought over, but he immediately hooked onto that little detail about Even’s history with guests. In reality it didn’t mean anything specific about Even’s promiscuity or dating habits, but Isak interpreted it positively, noting that on their first date he was granted access to a part of Even’s life that not many people saw. He tried to hide his interest with some light teasing.

“You don’t invite people over because your apartment is so messy?”

The joke, meant to diffuse Isak’s interest, fanned the fire instead, as he confirmed that Even was giving him special treatment.

“I don’t invite people over full stop. I don’t meet many people who I would be comfortable with in my apartment, whether it was clean or dirty.”

“Well, thank you for this once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Even popped a whole roll into his mouth and smiled briefly before chewing.

* * *

After dinner, Even cleaned up the kitchen while Isak stood at the window, watching his neighbors.

“I don’t have any alcohol, but…do you want popsicles?”

When Isak turned around, Even was bent over his freezer. Isak appreciated the view. “Yes.”

“Flavor?”

He pretended to think, which kept Even bent over. “Orange?” When Even began to straighten, Isak turned back to the window.

Isak voiced an observation without considering a filter, something that was happening more often than not with Even. “Do you ever watch anyone fuck in there?” Most of the windows were open for viewing, as it was not too hot nor was the sun requiring curtains to be pulled just yet. Even appeared at his side and offered him his popsicle. For a moment the only sound was the rustle of the plastic wrappers as they unwrapped their desserts.

“Fourth from the ground, third from the left.” Even pointed but the instructions were more effective. Isak found the apartment. “She had a boyfriend for a while who loved fucking her on their couch. I never really like, stood here and watched, but I noticed it happening a lot.”

The idea of getting fucked on a couch and the sound of Even slurping on his popsicle got Isak flustered. He felt his dick swell in his shorts. He regretted taking the popsicle now, because no matter what the motions required to eat it would make him think of a blowjob. He tried to lick it in the least sexual manner possible.

“Do you think they’re still together?”

“Not sure. Haven’t seen him in a while. But I also haven’t seen anyone else. Maybe they’re just on a break.”

“God, I feel like I could just stand here and watch them for hours. Whenever one gets boring I could move to the next window, jump to another story.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s…entertaining.”

“You don’t think so?” He looked over at Even then, and watched him bite his red popsicle. He thought it would be less sexy, such an aggressive action, but Isak was just getting harder. His hand twitched in a desire to cover his crotch.

“I definitely did that when I first moved in. But then you realize that everyone is kind of boring.”

“Even the couch fuckers?”

Even laughed. “They weren’t fucking _all_ the time. Usually she was working on her laptop. Or people just weren’t home. I think you've caught a good burst of activity, for a Friday night.”

“It’s kind of late.”

“Yeah. You can watch ten people go brush their teeth before bed.”

Isak shrugged. “There’s something about watching someone else through a window that makes them seem so much more interesting than yourself. Like, yeah, they’re brushing their teeth, but what if it’s because they just got home from saving someone’s life?” He noticed Even nodding out of the corner of his eye.

“There’s a lot of potential there.”

They were quiet for a bit, eating and watching. The last bit of Isak’s popsicle threatened to fall off the stick, so he took one final bite and rolled it around in his mouth quickly to get it to melt.

“It goes both ways though,” Even eventually added.

“Hmm?”

“What if they’re standing in their apartment, watching me brush my teeth? Maybe they’re thinking I just got home from saving someone’s life. I mean, all I did was pick up dog shit, but they don’t know that. What if you’re the entertainment for them?”

Isak smirked. “Is _that_ why you never invite people over?”

“No. But it’s why I have thick curtains.”

Even stepped forward then, and untied the curtains at the edge of the window. Isak noticed that they were actually being held back by silk scarves. They fluttered to the ground as Even tugged them free, moving from the window in the kitchen all the way down the wall. Isak took the moment to dispose of his popsicle stick.

The apartment got darker. Not because Even was closing the curtains, but because he was lowering lights as he went as well. Isak watched from the kitchen, understanding the sign. It was a curtain call, time to go home. But he stayed where he was. He didn’t want to go.

Even disappeared behind the wall. One light went off and another turned on shortly after. It was softer, and pink. It must’ve been that strand of Christmas lights.

Even reappeared. He leaned against the dividing wall. He was done with his popsicle but he was still chewing on the stick. His tongue tucked it into his cheek when he spoke. “When I first saw you through the window I thought you were the one helping Jonas study. This little university nerd earning some money tutoring other kids on his lunch break. Sometimes you were alone, and I thought you were the responsible one, waiting for a lazy student to show up for a lesson they didn’t want to learn.”

“Little?” Isak questioned the comment but was still drawn in by the story. He took slow steps forward, around the table, around the couch.

“But then I saw you each week, a little bit more. I saw you get frustrated, and excited, and I saw Jonas talking to you with the passion of someone who knew what he was talking about. I thought of new stories each week, reasons why you were there, who Jonas was to you, what you would do after your meetings. Now I know that you’re always on time because, as bored as you are by economics, you don’t want to be wrong. You want to win arguments, and you can’t do that with a bad grade. And Jonas is sometimes late because he’s busy high-fiving people while he skateboards to the cafeteria.”

Isak laughed and let the stereotype slide. He was more focused on getting closer to Even, more sure with each step that he wasn’t going to be sent home. Besides, sometimes it was true. Jonas loved giving high fives.

“But then I understood why you were really there.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. It happened when you started showing up every day, at the same time, without Jonas. When you started seeing me too.”

“Have I told you how much I just _love_ the cafeteria sandwiches?” Isak was getting close, close enough to reach out and pull the popsicle stick from Even’s mouth. He joked to disguise the fact that it still wasn’t close enough.

“They’re so good they make you blush, huh.”

“Yup, at 12:30, every day.”

Even threw his popsicle stick on the ground. It landed with a heavy, sticky splat. If Isak had stopped to notice it, he would understand why Even’s apartment was usually messy. But he didn’t stop. He walked right up to Even, seeing him, then pressing his lips to Even’s cherry red mouth.

Isak felt Even’s fingers floating at his jaw and settling on his neck. He felt for Even’s waist, dared to feel for the skin instead of just the shirt covering it. They paused to inhale and open their mouths. They came together again to lick at the sugar they’d left behind. They tasted cherry and orange, sweet and wet.

Even moved his hands down to Isak’s chest, then around his rib cage. His palms were flat across Isak’s back, and he pulled him in close. If Isak had wanted to hide his erection earlier, it would be impossible to do so now. Their bodies were flush, their mouths still exploring, and they discovered how attracted they were to each other when it took herculean efforts to move away.

Isak’s hands climbed up Even’s back, taking his shirt with them, until they were cradling his neck. They paused again so Even could lift his arms and pull the fabric free. Then they were kissing again, grinding their hips a little bit, and Even pushed at Isak’s shirt as well, to get at his back. He held the shoulders that were usually hunched over a laptop, and felt them stretch as Isak constantly shifted his embrace. Isak could not settle on a single way of holding Even to him because he still had to figure out all of the ways he could hold Even first.

His hands divided and conquered, one running up into Even’s hair and one running down into his shorts, into his briefs. They both grabbed, though, and Even arched his back and neck into the demands. This exposed his throat for Isak to suck on, letting sugary spit drip onto his collarbone.

Even, equally desperate with demands, grabbed below Isak’s ass to lift him. Isak went easily, his legs hooking around Even’s hips to help himself up, and he did not complain when he was dropped onto Even’s bed. His grips had not faltered and his legs remained hooked, which meant Even came down with him. The only difference now, was it was easier to rub their crotches against each other now that their legs didn’t have to support their vertical weight anymore. And so they did.

Even’s basketball shorts were slipping from all of the friction. It only took one hooked finger from Isak to pull them off. The briefs were more difficult, due to the way Even was overflowing them, but he managed to tug those down too, all without separating his mouth from Even’s. They got completely naked while continuously eating each other’s faces, licking tongues and biting lips and inhaling hot wet breaths. With the fabric gone between them their grinding smoothed out into sliding thrusts, aided by sweat and the pre-cum leaking from their hard dicks. Isak admired Even’s length without even looking at it. By feel alone he knew he was working with a big cock, and it raised goosebumps all over his skin imagining it, anticipating it inside of him.

Even fit beautifully between his spread legs, and his body covered Isak with the perfect amount of pressure. Their dicks were lined up, and Even’s hips rocked them steadily to their first orgasms.

Isak came first. If there had been space between them, his cum would’ve shot right over his head. Instead it was hot liquid bullets trapped by their chests, mixing with their sweat. Isak moaned and shuddered, and then moaned again when he felt Even Even shooting as well. He had stopped thrusting, frozen in pleasure, but his dick pumped against Isak’s, seemingly humping itself through its orgasm. “Oh fuck, oh fuck.” Even had slightly better use of real words during climax, whereas Isak’s brain had completely shut down. He simply howled and whimpered and panted and begged.

“Kiss.”

He couldn’t get enough of that mouth, the one that teased him with a smirk from beneath the shadow of a baseball cap, the one that teased him right now, tasting like cherry and sucking on his tongue. Isak chased it like a toy.

“Roll over.” Even rose up and gripped Isak’s hip to nudge him onto his belly. Isak obeyed. Too late he remembered their cum.

“Towel,” he choked out, still working on formulating an actual sentence. Even understood though.

“I don’t care.”

Even disappeared. Isak closed his eyes and focused on the buzz as it wore off. It had been a fast, needy orgasm, and as it faded his craving for another grew. His breathing and heartbeat slowed. He was relieved that he had been optimistic, that he too had cleaned up before their date. When he felt an ounce of strength return, he pushed himself up to his hands and knees. Even returned.

“Like this?” Isak watched him walk from the bathroom to the end of the bed. He got a good look at that cock, which bobbed in front of him, heavy with blood. Even evaluated the position, admired his ass.

“Do you like it from behind?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ll like whatever you want to do with that thing.” Isak twisted around, back to sitting up, so he could stare at Even’s dick directly. He watched while Even stroked it to a full recovery, and then rolled on a condom. Shit. The visual alone was enough to make him come. His own dick spit out a drop of pre-cum in confirmation.

Even pumped some lube onto the condom and tossed the bottle to Isak. It was Even’s turn to salivate and stroke while Isak spread his legs and delicately fingered himself. “Maybe…we should just do the ol’ standard to start. So I can watch you.”

“So I can watch _you_ ,” Isak added.

Even climbed onto the bed on his knees, using one hand for balance and the other to still hold his dick. The muscles in his arm were tense, just like when he was holding back a dog on a leash. If he was restraining himself, Isak wanted none of that. He wanted Even to give him everything, and he wanted to watch him while he did it. Even shoved his thighs underneath Isak’s, sending him off balance, onto his back. Isak offered himself up just as Even prepared to take him. Isak stared at the ceiling while their hands worked together to guide Even inside.

“Maybe you don’t invite people over because your dick is too big.” Isak’s joke did not deserve the laughter it received from both of them, but the laughter helped in other ways, so they kept doing it. Isak relaxed and Even squeezed in to the hilt. He gave a few test thrusts, holding on to the base of the condom, just in case. Isak went back to just moaning. But then Even’s hands came up, sliding under Isak’s shoulders. They were pressed together again, closer than before, and they rocked as one, taking their time as they chased down another orgasm.

* * *

“So this is…your schedule?”

Now that Isak wasn’t quite as distracted by Even’s nude form, since he’d been so thoroughly satisfied by it, he could look at the chalkboard across from the bed. He saw the days of the week, and some dog names that he recognized. It didn’t look very organized, because he couldn’t tell if there were any indications of time of day or groupings of dogs, but perhaps Even didn’t need that.

“Yes.”

“It looks quite complicated.”

“Yeah, that’s why I need to write it on the board. It’s too…difficult for me to put it into a digital calendar. And it’s easier to look at when I don’t want to look at my phone.”

“It’s so…big.”

“You’ve been saying that a lot tonight.”

Isak slapped Even’s chest. He would’ve tugged on his (yes, big) dick if it had been in reach, but Isak was too tired to sit up and lean over. Besides, Even was resting his head on Isak’s stomach, and the move would’ve displaced him, which he didn’t want. Even giggled and caught Isak’s hand, to prevent a repeat attack but also just to hold it.

“Sometimes I just want to shut everything off, out, but you can’t do that with dogs. They’re always there, waiting for you.” Even waved at the board, at all of the dogs waiting for him to hook them up to their leashes. “I try not to make it my whole life but sometimes that’s all I can handle. Just me and the dogs.”

“I’m sure I’ll understand it all someday, but right now it just looks like a mess of names.”

“Well, it kind of is a mess right now. This past couple of weeks, with you, have screwed up my usual schedule.”

“I’m sorry, are you blaming this on me?”

“Yeah. I don’t normally grab ten dogs at once for a single walk. I don’t even do the pairs that we’ve been doing this week. Usually they’re just single dogs on a midday rotation, but I had to get your attention somehow.”

Isak gasped. He did not like being the cause of the scheduling nightmare that was mapped out in front of them, but he liked the lengths Even had gone to in order to get them to this point, this bed. He was flattered, but at what cost? “Put it back, please. Go back to your normal schedule. You have my attention.”

Isak made the effort this time to sit up. Even twisted off of him and pushed up to meet his face. “Yeah?”

“We just had sex three times. You think I’m not attracted to you?” Isak rolled out of the bed, not wanting to give Even the chance to answer the question. Even followed him, but for a moment they were quiet. Even pulled the soiled comforter to the floor. Isak hunted down the discarded condoms and delivered them to the bin that Even pointed out for him. Their nakedness was casual now that they were well-acquainted with it.

“It’s not that, I just…I don’t know. Are we going back to the way we were before?” The confidence that Even had had while they were fucking, the commands he’d given and the steady, sure skill that had brought Isak to the edge over and over again, seemed to have disappeared. He was unsure now, what else he was supposed to do with Isak. His doubt was contagious.

“Uh, do you mean that this was just a one-time thing?”

“Yeah, if you want?”

“I…don’t?”

They questioned each other, their future, back and forth. They didn’t want to ask, outright, what they were going to become, so they just kept offering ways to cut it off and then rejecting them.

Even tried to offer something in the middle. “Okay, well we could just do something low-key, you know, just some good food and good fucks.”

It was frustrating. Isak was standing there, naked and tired, not wanting to commit to anything but annoyed at himself for that as well. He didn’t want to plan out their future but he was also afraid of what it would become, or not become, if they didn’t. “Ugh, Even, this is dumb. Can I sleep here tonight?”

“Yes, of course.” Even’s voice was a little more steady with this answer.

“Okay. And where is your chalk, for this?” Isak pointed to the wall. Even pointed to the ashtray on top of his chest of drawers, behind Isak. Isak turned and plucked a piece out.

“I know you’re going to have to redo all of this to get it back to normal, but when you do, don’t forget this.” Isak scanned the board for an open space. He quickly gave up, not caring to fit in anywhere specific. He wrote his name at least once under each day, scribbling it up high and down low, overlapping with dogs, in big capital letters and tiny rushed whispers.

The only sound in the whole apartment was the click and scrape of the chalk. Dust flew up and stuck to Isak’s skin. Isak scratched his name where he felt it belonged, so that it wasn’t just Even and his dogs. He made space for himself. When he was done he returned the chalk to the ashtray and then walked around the bed to be closer to Even. “Will that work for you?”

Even gave the wall only the briefest of glances before locking on to Isak’s face. He smiled, soft and sure. “Yeah, I can squeeze you in.”

They kissed in satisfied conclusion, and then silently climbed into bed together. They had few precious hours before Even would have to wake up for his first walk of the day, so they moved quickly to find good sleeping positions and finally let their bodies rest. Even reached up to the headboard to switch the lights off.

“You know…now that you’ve done that to my chalk board it really _does_ look like I’m a drug dealer.”

Isak snorted. He didn’t lift his head to look, knowing how wild his scribbles had turned out. "Only a shitty drug dealer writes his client's names on a giant chalkboard." He burrowed deeper under the sheet, testing Even’s chest for a pillow as his laughter faded. Even had been hard and sinewy above him, and now he was soft and welcoming below him. Even’s breathing leveled, and the fingers he was swirling through Isak’s hair were a light, warm massage. Isak slept easy in the arms of a dog walker.

* * *

Jonas was on time for their next tutoring session, but Even was late. This was on purpose though, planned in advance over text message, so that Jonas would be in place when Even would walk by. Isak was a little nervous, but not terribly so. After all, it was Jonas. It was Even.

They hadn’t seen each other since the night of the date, at the basketball court. Jonas hadn’t asked about Even, either, not prying into what had been established as a sensitive topic for Isak. Like the excellent friend he was, Jonas was going to wait for Isak to share any further updates, if there were any. He didn’t know that Isak was still coming to the cafeteria every day in time to meet Even, and walk with him to the park. He didn’t know that Isak stayed over at Even’s apartment most nights, putting on a show for his neighbors whenever they forgot to close the curtains. He didn’t know that Isak knew the names and breeds of each dog that Even walked, which they rewrote on Even’s chalkboard when it was time to reorganize his schedule.

Until now.

Like always, Isak noticed Even immediately. He was back in his baseball cap and black jeans, a smile ready and waiting for him. Isak blindly smacked at Jonas’s shoulder to get him to stop talking about capitalism. “Did you know that that dog is a Samoyed?” Isak pointed, though it wasn’t necessary, because at that point it was right in front of them. “His name is Fred. His favorite toy is a stuffed duck and he loves getting blow-dried after a bath.”

If Jonas shot Isak a weird look, Isak didn’t notice, because he could not tear his eyes away from the window.

“Why...how do you know all of that?”

“Because the guy holding his leash is my boyfriend. His name is Even.”

Even waved. Jonas waved back.

Fred tugged on his leash, so Even had to go. Isak waved too, then watched him walk away.

“Thanks for the introduction, Isak. That’s really great news. But whatever you do, do not tell me what his favorite toy is.”

Isak kept that secret to himself. _Me._


End file.
